Currency Exchange Announcements as Traps: Police Call from the Ministry of Internal Affairs

Numerous enticing announcements can be found on various social media platforms, offering citizens to exchange currency, particularly rubles, at a higher rate than that provided by exchange points.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs police calls for vigilance and outlines the scheme of the fraud. “Criminals first rent an expensive car and instruct the driver to go to a trade center with both incoming and outgoing traffic. Those seeking to exchange currency are also asked to approach the same location.

Through phone communication, they arrange for the rental car's driver to meet the person wanting to exchange currency, whom the criminal has previously told that they are supposedly very busy and that the money will be taken by their associate, referring to the driver. The driver is instructed to exchange the money at the trading center and return, so the individual is required to give them the cash and wait in the car.

The driver takes the money for exchange, enters the trading center, and does not return. The person ensnared in the fraud, waiting in the expensive car, does not even think that this is a rented vehicle or that the driver is not necessarily close to the criminal.

Thus, the citizen does not receive the money they were entitled to and is left empty-handed. Dear citizens, we urge you to conduct currency exchanges only through licensed currency agents by the Central Bank of Armenia and the Ministry of Finance of Armenia to avoid becoming a victim of fraud.”